Politics

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted two decades of aged-care mismanagement, but at the heart of the sector is a pyramid scheme that exposes the taxpayer to billions in liability.

As more than 25,000 Australians wait for the chance to return home, at least one legal expert says the travel restrictions may breach the constitutional rights of citizens.

While the prime minister’s newly announced gas funding is politically useful – soothing the Coalition backbench and wedging Labor – it will imperil Australia’s climate targets.

Exclusive: A leaked government database shows hospital transmission is key to Victoria’s recent Covid-19 cases, as new concerns are raised about access to protective equipment.

As the royal commission prepares findings that will likely recommend a return to an earlier system of aged care, the crisis in the sector can be linked to Howard-era reforms that stoked greed and lowered care standards, and have been worsened by successive governments.

As the pause in Oxford University’s Covid-19 vaccine trials reminds the public of the realities of medical research, the Morrison government has locked in 84 million doses of this and a second vaccine.

Exclusive: In a private briefing, Victoria’s chief health officer has contradicted the premier on the state’s failing contact tracing system and highlighted issues with the massive outsourcing of the response to private companies.

While the members of the senate’s coronavirus watchdog are working well across party lines, its chair, Labor senator Katy Gallagher, says the government is delaying and obfuscating to avoid scrutiny.

The state’s criticisms echo those levelled by Victoria and the royal commission.

Government policies have seen the ‘unemployment industry’ paid millions during the pandemic, while jobless rates soar.